Louis Armstrong’s Recording of King Oliver’s West End Blues was inducted to the the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1974. This song, originally recorded in 1928, is about the West side of the French Quarter in New Orleans. It’s a magical tune about a magical place. If you spent any time in Nawlens you’ll be transported back there in an instant by watching and listening to this youtube video.
A special thanks to Dave Gross, a rising star on the blues scene, and also really fun to follow on Twitter @davegrossblues, for bringing this amazing song to my attention.
Today I came across the sweet sound of Paul Batto Jr. on myspace. Paul’s a great guitarist with a wonderful voice. Just what I needed this morning. So I wrote Paul to thank him for entertaining me this morning and he wrote us a nice little note to introduce himself. I’d like to invite you to watch and listen to this video and read the introduction Paul sent which follows:
Paul writes: I was born in 1967 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. When people ask me if I’m from the south I say YES - south of Europe. Growing up in a non-musical family I had to walk in through the back door, so to speak, but all I ever knew was I just had to do this. I have been asked many times about my decision to make noise for a living and my answer has always been - for lack of a better idea. It’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do.
My father observed how i always reacted to music as a kid and bought me my first guitar at the age of 5 - I strummed the thing with my thumb, got a huge blister and put the thing away for seven years. Picked it up again at about twelve and never put it down again.
Discovering the blues was a big thing and once it grows on you it never lets you go. I have been messin’ around with music for twenty some years now - singing gospel music, big band music etc. but I always end up back with with the blues. Someone once said to me : “It’s like coming home. You may go many places but you always come back to your good ol’ easy-chair”
Thanks Paul, that was well put.
Those who know me know I have a passion for blues and also a keen curiosity about the blues all around the world. But, this was not what attracted me to seek out Paul. I didn’t really know anything about him other than the music on his myspace page. I was in the mood for some mellow jazz and Paul really struck that chord for me with the tunes on his myspace page.
Thanks Paul, we’ve never met but you made my morning coffee very enjoyable this morning. I hope we hear lots from you in the future. Keep us all posted here at the worldofblues.com.
Ray Charles’ hit album The Genius Hits the Road was re-released September 22, 2009 as a tribute to what would have been the singers 79th Birthday September 23, 2009.
Here is the track list from the album:
1. Alabamy Bound (1:55)
2. Georgia On My Mind (3:35)
3. Basin Street Blues (2:47)
4. Mississippi Mud (3:25)
5. Moonlight in Vermont (3:03)
6. New York’s My Home (3:06)
7. California, Here I Come (2:10)
8. Moon Over Miami (3:21)
9. Deep in the Heart of Texas (2:28)
10. Carry Me Back to Old Virginny [featuring the Raeletts] (2:03)
11. Blue Hawaii (2:59)
12. Chattanooga Choo-Choo (3:06)
About.com has been running a series lately including the top ten classic jazz albums, top ten Jazz albums (not just classic) and now top ten Jazz vocalist. Being a jazz fan and a blogger I’m keenly interested in these top ten lists. Now about.com did not provide previews of the music and since I want to hear all these I’ve build this Amazon widget to give us all an opportunity to preview these vocal works and some links to look a little more closely at the recordings. Here is the widget, click play so you can listen to the tunes while you review the list.
Here is the list with a link to an album for your further perusal. Every album I’ve chosen here had a 5 star rating on Amazon.com when I selected it.
About.com has a nice little blog post you called “A List of Ten Great Recordings to Start Your Jazz Collection” that I tweeted out earlier but it didn’t have music previews, and, when I clicked on the links the prices were a little steep. Note that this is different than the Top 10 Jazz albums I tweeted out a while back
I thought I’d offer up these links to Amazon.com in the hopes my twitter friends would enjoy it and get some good deals. So here is the list. Thanks to About.com for providing the list and thanks to Amazon.com for the links. Note that you can also click on the Amazon ads here and get a preview of the CD as well as customer reviews. Happy shopping and listening.
Ray Charles’ hit album The Genius Hits the Road was re-released September 22, 2009 as a tribute to what would have been the singers 79th Birthday September 23, 2009.
